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Are global health policies good for public health in developing countries?
Dr Amar Jesani

Editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, and Faculty, Centre for Studies in Ethics and Rights (Anusandhan Trust), Mumbai, India

Wednesday 16 May 2012, 17:30-21:00
Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE

RSVP

This event is open to all and free to attend but please book your place in advance.

Contact: Johanna White

jwhite@nuffieldbioethics.org
+44 (0)207 681 9619

Lecture synopsis

Global health policies are shaped by multiple institutions, not all of them working directly in the field of health. These institutions both co-operate and compete with each other. But the dominant ones among them share some common approaches: (a) applying the principles of liberal economics to public health; (b) favouring certain technological and managerial solutions in system reforms; and (c) above all, having a common epistemological view on science and on what constitutes evidence. The dominance of this political, ideological and intellectual framework facilitates the opening up of public health to the market, and connects it to national and international corporate interests. In his lecture, Amar Jesani will argue that these developments are in conflict with people’s aspirations for more equitable socio-economic development, and for universal access to health care in developing countries. He will use India as a case study to demonstrate these points.

Written by John Donnelly on February 2, 2012

In the final session today before the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, Chair Dr. Amy Gutmann asked all the experts who presented information to talk about their greatest concern with genetic tests.

Gutmann, the President of the University of Pennsylvania, told them: “The Commission is very likely to focus its report on issues of privacy broadly construed. Anything that is relevant to privacy would be of great interest to the Commission.”

Among the responses:

Jane Kaye, Director of the Centre for Law, Health and Emerging Technologies at Oxford University: “I would say I see the whole genome sequencing is another twist on things happening already on science. … What we need to do is make (privacy concerns) more nuanced and allow individuals to say how whole genomes are used.”

See link for the rest of this blogpost